{{Short description|American writer (1927–2021)}} {{for|New Zealand carrier, civilian and military pilot, tourism and aviation promoter|Fred Ladd (aviator)}} {{Use American English|date=June 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = Fred Ladd | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1927|2|19}} | birth_place = Toledo, Ohio, U.S. | birth_name = Fred Laderman | death_date = {{death date and age|2021|8|3|1927|2|19}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | occupation = Film producer, writer | known_for = Animations (Writing, Producing, Directing) | spouse = | children = 2 }} '''Fred Laderman'''<ref name="BLADE"/> (February 19, 1927 – August 3, 2021),<ref name="BLADE">[https://www.toledoblade.com/oldsaxolinks?query=extrefid:405220309 ''Toledo Blade'' article/interview, 22 May 2004] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010163115/http://www.toledoblade.com/frontpage/2004/05/22/Kid-from-Toledo-still-animated-after-decades-of-illustrious-work.html|date=October 10, 2012}}</ref><ref name="AWN">[https://www.awn.com/mag/issue1.5/articles/deneroffladd1.5.html Animation World Network interview at AWN.com]</ref> known professionally as '''Fred Ladd''', was an American television and film writer and producer. He is notable as the first to introduce anime to the Americas.
== Biography == Ladd, a Toledo, Ohio, native, graduated from Scott High School in 1945 and from Ohio State University in 1949 with degrees in radio and speech.<ref name="BLADE"/><ref name=interview>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C35p33Q2B5E |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/C35p33Q2B5E |archive-date=December 20, 2021 |url-status=live|title=Anime Industry Interviews Episode 4: Writer / Producer Fred Ladd|website=YouTube |date=April 7, 2016 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> As a child, he did impersonations of movie stars including Betty Boop. When Ladd was in high school, he liked a radio program for children called ''Let's Pretend'', which dramatized children's stories, which would serve as an inspiration for him producing anime and for the American audiences.<ref name=interview/> Upon moving to the New York City area, Ladd got a year-long job at an FM radio station and then was employed at Cayton, Inc., an advertising agency that dabbled in film production. The agency acquired several nature documentaries, and Ladd was given the job of repackaging them into a feature film. Rather than an outright sale, the film was offered in trade to European distributors (cash exports being limited in post-war Europe), in exchange for marketable local film productions. The deal resulted in the acquisition of animated cartoons, and Ladd was given the job of repackaging and dubbing the films for the American market.<ref name="BLADE"/><ref name="AWN"/>
Ladd became the house specialist in the "Westernizing" of overseas animated programming. A 1937 German short film on the future of space travel ''Weltraumschiff 1 startet'' was acquired, and the special effects sequences were excised by Ladd. His re-edited footage was augmented by new animated sequences and became part of a series entitled ''The Space Explorers'' which was syndicated to local TV stations from the late 1950s through the early 1960s.<ref name="BLADE"/><ref name="AWN"/>
Ladd co-operated with William Cayton in producing a film and television serial version of the Czech film ''Journey to the Beginning of Time''.
Producer Norm Prescott employed Ladd to help reformat a 1965 Belgian animated feature ''Pinocchio dans l'espace'', which was released theatrically by Universal in late 1965 as ''Pinocchio in Outer Space''. Prescott later brought Ladd in as co-writer and co-producer on his home-grown 1972 Filmation feature ''Journey Back to Oz''.
But it was an earlier involvement with NBC-TV that helped open a new and enduring market to North America. In 1963, the network's distribution division, NBC Enterprises, had acquired the North American distribution rights to a Japanese animated series entitled ''Tetsuwan Atomu'', and consulted with Ladd on how to market it. Ladd took the footage and created a pilot episode, eventually leading to the long-running series ''Astro Boy''—the inaugural appearance of anime on Western shores.<ref name="BLADE"/><ref name="AWN"/><ref name=interview/> Ladd removed references to Asian religion in favor of Christianity and removed scenes to violence and nudity due to it being to risky for NBC's standard and practices and to the Western audience.<ref name=memory/> One incident happened where a samurai in the series was considered as violent. When Ladd flew to Mushi Productions in 1964 and explained the violent nature, they didn't understand, and they compared it to police brutality in the US. They wanted him to explain it, and Ladd just simply said it's because of cultural differences. Animation like a robber holding a rifle to a poor man's head begging for money and a bachelor seeing pictures of nude women were cut by Ladd by being over the top violence, and he explained to Tezuka about the nude women "Sorry, Mr. Tezuka, we couldn't save that, if I ended up with all those shots, we wound up with a 2 minute program."<ref name=interview/> Tezuka would later dub Ladd "the godfather of Astro Boy", due to the lucrative business of America's involvement in anime after it aired.<ref name=memory/>
Ladd continued his involvement in early anime imports with ''Gigantor'' for Delphi Associates and ''Kimba the White Lion'' for NBC Enterprises.<ref name="BLADE"/><ref name="AWN"/> Later, Ladd was creative consultant for the 1995 English dub of ''Sailor Moon'' for DiC Entertainment.<ref name="BLADE"/><ref name="AWN"/><ref name=memory>{{Cite news|title=Fred Ladd, The Godfather of "Astro Boy" (1927-2021)|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/fred-ladd-the-godfather-of-astro-boy-1927-2021/|last=Deneroff|first=Harvey|date=August 16, 2021|access-date=August 16, 2021|work=Cartoon Research}}</ref>
Ladd was also responsible for having various black-and-white cartoons for his company called Color Systems Inc. such as ''Looney Tunes'', ''Betty Boop'', and others to be redrawn colorized in South Korea from 1968 to 1974.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cartoonresearch.com/faqx.html |title=CARTOON RESEARCH FAQ 2 |access-date=September 12, 2020 |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225032805/http://www.cartoonresearch.com/faqx.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> He died on August 3, 2021, at the age of 94 from natural causes.<ref>{{Cite news|title=American Anime Pioneer, Astro Boy Anime Producer Fred Ladd Passes Away at 94|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2021-08-10/american-anime-pioneer-astro-boy-anime-producer-fred-ladd-passes-away-at-94/.176123|last=Alex|first=Mateo|work=animenewsnetwork.com|date=August 10, 2021|access-date=August 16, 2021}}</ref><ref name=memory/>
== Screenwriting == === Anime television series dubs === * ''Astro Boy'' (1963–1965) * ''Gigantor'' (1966) * ''Kimba the White Lion'' (1966–1967) * ''The Snow Queen'' (1981)
=== Original television scripts === * ''The Underseas Explorers'' (1961) * ''Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle'' (1979) * ''Hero High'' (1981) * ''The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!'' (1981) * ''The Incredible Hulk'' (1982) * ''M.A.S.K.'' (1985) * ''Ghostbusters'' (1986)
=== Foreign film dubs === * ''Pippi in the South Seas'' (1974) * ''Pippi Goes on Board'' (1975) * ''Pippi on the Run'' (1977)
=== Original film scripts === * ''The Space Explorers'' (1958) * ''Pinocchio in Outer Space'' (1965) * ''Journey Back to Oz'' (1972)
== Bibliography == * Fred Ladd with Harvey Deneroff, ''Astro Boy and Anime Come to the Americas: An Insider's View of the Birth of a Pop Culture Phenomenon'' (McFarland, Jefferson NC, 2008) {{ISBN|0-7864-3866-5}}
== Notes == <references />
== External links == * {{IMDb name|0480456|Fred Ladd}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20121010163115/http://www.toledoblade.com/frontpage/2004/05/22/Kid-from-Toledo-still-animated-after-decades-of-illustrious-work.html May 2004 interview with Fred Ladd] at ToledoBlade.com * [https://www.awn.com/mag/issue1.5/articles/deneroffladd1.5.html 1996 interview with Fred Ladd] at Animation World Network * {{IMDb name|480456|section=bio}} * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20000929031552/http://www.gigantor.org/ GIGANTOR Website by Fred Ladd]}} * [http://www.thespaceexplorers.com/ The Space Explorers, animated short film, Fred Ladd (1957)]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladd, Fred}} Category:1927 births Category:2021 deaths Category:Film producers from California Category:American television directors Category:Television producers from California Category:Television writers from California Category:American male screenwriters Category:American male television writers Category:American voice directors Category:Ohio State University School of Communication alumni Category:Writers from Toledo, Ohio Category:Writers from New York City Category:Writers from Los Angeles Category:Screenwriters from New York (state) Category:Screenwriters from Ohio Category:Television producers from New York City Category:Film producers from New York (state) Category:Film producers from Ohio